Gender pay gap report 2024

Diversity is essential to excellence in scientific endeavour. It increases breadth and perspective, leading to more innovation and creativity. 

We want the Crick to be a place where everyone feels valued and where diversity is celebrated and seen as part of the foundation for our institute’s success. We remain committed to creating equality of opportunity and promoting diversity and inclusion at the Francis Crick Institute.

We are an equal-pay employer. However, we have a gender pay gap and continue to work towards addressing that gap.

The figures in this report are for the snapshot date of 5 April 2024. 

Our mean gender pay gap was 10.0% in April 2024 and our median gender pay gap was 3.7%. These are lower than the national mean gender pay gap of 13.8% and considerably lower than the national median gender pay gap of 13.1% in November 2024 (Source: Office for National Statistics).

We continue to review and aim to reduce our gender pay gap. This year, our mean gender pay gap has increased slightly from 9.7% in April 2023 to 10.0% in April 2024, and our median gender pay gap has increased from 1.7% to 3.7%.

Gender pay gap fluctuations are to be expected.  Our gender pay gap in April 2024 remains lower than when it was first reported in April 2017. Evidently, we are driving lasting change to our gender pay gap and our approach to gender equity.

As in previous years, the main reason that we have a gender pay gap at the Crick is because we have more men than women in senior roles across our institute.

One of the reasons that our gender pay gap has slightly increased this year is because the number of women in lower-paid roles in the lower quartile has increased (from 55% in 2023 to 59% in 2024) and the number of women in roles in the upper middle quartile has also decreased (from 57% in 2023 to 54% in 2024).

Another reason our gender pay gap has increased is because the proportion of women working at the Crick has also increased (from 52% in 2023 to 53% in April 2024). 

The Crick does not operate a bonus scheme.

For gender pay gap reporting purposes, we are required to report any rewards related to profit sharing, productivity or performance.

For the first time in 2024, non-consolidated payments made under our Outstanding Contribution Review scheme are included in our bonus pay gap (these were previously made as consolidated pay increases so included in our gender pay gap calculations).

We also made a small number of other payments to support employees in key roles joining the Crick at the start of their employment and a couple of exceptional executive/senior staff bonus arrangements, which are also included in our bonus pay gap calculations. 

Our bonus pay gap is:

• Mean bonus pay gap: 22.3%
• Median bonus pay gap: 0%

The proportion of men and women receiving a bonus is:

• Men: 4.6%
• Women: 7.9%

Our focus on creating a supportive, inclusive environment for all and on gender balance and equity across all career paths, has played a key role in the overall reduction of our gender pay gap since we began reporting in 2017. Although fluctuations are to be expected, and driving lasting change will take years, we expect this positive trend to continue, with further narrowing of the gap in the years ahead.

We are committed to creating and maintaining a culture that promotes inclusivity and supports working parents, and to recruiting and developing women leaders in science. 

We hold an Athena Swan bronze award, given in recognition of our ambitions and activities around gender equity. Our inclusion strategy sets out our ambitions for developing a culture where all can thrive.

To advance our ambition to promote women in science and improve our gender pay gap, we continue to monitor and assess the impact of our activity. This includes regular reviews of our pay and recognition structures to ensure gender equity, as well as monitoring recruitment data to ensure accessibility for women at every stage of their careers.

Action we have taken to drive a reduction in our gender pay gap includes:

• Introducing a core-funded research programme for all new group leaders, which appears to remove the need for unhealthy competition and our colleagues, in particular, like the model as it provides a stable period when research can be done without the stress of writing grants and provides stability and flexibility to start a family without the concerns of securing grants while having a career break. 
• Offering a generous support package to group leaders relocating to take up roles at the Crick, helping them settle in and support their families during the initial years.
• Implementing automatic contract extensions and flexibility on review dates for colleagues taking maternity, shared parental or adoption leave (a 'stop the clock' policy for fixed-term academic roles).
• Providing shared parental leave that matches our maternity leave and pay, giving staff the flexibility to choose the parental leave option that best suits their needs.
• Offering family-friendly policies and benefits to all employees, including a parental leave return payment, childcare allowances for young children and up to 5 days emergency carer and childcare cover per year, and wellbeing support for all family members, such as a 24-hour GP service and assistance programme.
• Regularly reviewing alumni data on postdocs leaving the Crick, which shows that men and women are equally likely to stay in research and research-related careers (95% of both). This is evidence that we are successful in our training mission. 
• Providing training and development opportunities, including mentoring programmes for all staff and essential training in equality, diversity and inclusion.
• As a London Living Wage employer, we implement in the London Living Wage as soon as possible after they are announced each year (and well within the six-month required time frame).  Employees earning London Living Wage also receive a second pay increase in April each year as part of our annual cost of living pay review.

We must continue to be proactive in our approach to increasing all forms of diversity, including gender diversity at the Crick, if we are to pursue our strategy of discovery without boundaries.

I confirm that our gender pay gap calculations are accurate and meet the requirements of the regulations.

Candice Cross

Chief People Officer